Following are extensive excerpts from UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks at open debate of the Security Council on 'Addressing complex contemporary challenges to international peace and security' on December 20, 2017 during Japan's presidency of the Council for the month. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – I would like to make three main points today. First, we are seeing not only a quantitative but also a qualitative change in threats to international peace and security. The perils of nuclear weapons are again front and centre, with tensions higher than they have been since the end of the Cold War.

The writer is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. Following is the text of the statement titled 'A life without the threat of violence for everyone: leave no one behind'releasedon 16 November launching 'Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Violence' ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 25 November 2017.– The Editor

Following are extensive excerpts UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks on November 15, 217 at the Opening of the High-level Segment of COP23, the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). After thanking – The Editor

BONN (IDN-INPS) – It is fitting that this year’s conference is led by Fiji, a nation on the frontlines. Last month I visited other small islands facing the impacts of a warming world: Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The hurricane damage was beyond belief.

The author is High Representative for Disarmament Affairs United Nations (UNODA).Addressingthe conference on 'Perspectives for a world free from nuclear weapons and for integral disarmament' at Vatican City on 10 November 2017, she expressed her gratitude to Pope Francis and the Holy See for their commitment to a world free from nuclear weapons. The Holy See was one of the very first to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Following are extensive excerpts from her remarks. - The Editor

The author is Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. This article first appeared on UNCTAD website on July 21 with the caption: 'Can trade deliver the UN’s 2030 agenda?' – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) - Trade can be a source of prosperity, new ideas and shared values and ambitions. Today, the world strives to harness globalization in realizing the social, economic and environmental goals embodied in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Making sure that trade plays its part is a must, which means both sustaining it and ensuring its consistency with sustainable development.

This report by Katherine Prizeman first appeared on April 24, 2017 on the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) website under the title 'UN Disarmament Commission adopts by consensus “Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons', – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) - For the first time since 1999, the United Nations Disarmament Commission adopted consensus recommendations for transmittal to the General Assembly. The final report of the 2017 Commission contains recommendations on practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms.

The 2017 substantive session of the Commission was chaired by Argentina's Gabriela Martinic.

Following are excerpts from the opening statement on March 13 by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women for the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - The Commission concerns itself with the status of women. It reviews the progress made by women and girls, and assesses the remaining challenges. It is a barometer of the progress we are making on achieving a world that is free of gender discrimination and inequality, a world that leaves no-one behind. It will help us measure achievement of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also helps us to pursue action in priority areas and benefits from the Commission’s Agreed Conclusions.

With the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States on 20 January 2017, the United Nations is headed toward a new and potentially challenging relationship with its largest funder. This article refers to four areas that may be especially affected by the change of guards in Washington DC – Security Council dynamics; funding; climate change; and human rights – and makes concrete recommendations for the new Secretary-General António Guterres on how he can best protect the UN from "beginners’ mistakes all around" in the new U.S. Administration.

Note: This is a slightly abridged version of Franz Baumann's Keynote Address at the Bonn International Model UN titled 'Transformation in the midst of Crisis: New approaches in a changing International System' on November 30. Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, hosts 19 UN organizations and secretariats in the UN Campus.

NEW YORK (IDN) - There has been a momentous transformation in the past seventy years since the end of WWII and the founding of the United Nations. The UN, to recall, was born out of the second cataclysmic catastrophe of the 20th century.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the opportunity was missed to organize peace: Japan invaded Manchuria, Italy invaded Abyssinia, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, started WWII and carried out the genocide against the Jews.

MUMBAI (IDN | UN Women) - Unveiling a new partnership, UN Women and the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IMC) organized (on December 6) a high-level event to underline the critical link between women’s economic empowerment and ending violence against women, and the need for urgent and adequate investment in the twin themes.

BANGKOK (IDN-INPS) - Participants of an expert panel representing governments, private sector and NGOs at the ITU World Telecom 2016 event here argued that ‘disaster relief’ ICTs could be a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) enabler.

Disasters (earthquakes, floods, cyclones, hurricanes, epidemics etc.) continue to undermine economic development, social development, and environmental protection. Thus existing and emerging ICTs can mitigate the impact of these disasters increasing the chance for countries to attain the SDGs by 2030.

Viewpoint by LI Yong, Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

VIENNA (IDN-INPS) - UNIDO is turning fifty years old. The anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the past. It is also an opportunity to chart a new path for a sustainable future.

Looking back at what UNIDO has achieved throughout all these years, I am amazed by the success of its technical cooperation activities, its normative function and its policy advice, and its contribution to the global discussion of industrial development.

The history of the Organization started on November 17, 1966, when UNIDO was established as a special organ of the United Nations General Assembly to assist, promote and accelerate the industrialization of developing countries, with a particular emphasis on manufacturing. After moving its headquarters to Vienna in 1979, it became a specialized agency in 1985.

MARRAKECH, Morocco (UNFCC) – Leaders in the global drive to protect, restore and sustainably manage forests announced on November 8 a series of measures that show concrete progress is being made towards delivering on the Paris climate pledges and global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

More than a dozen initiatives from Africa to Indonesia to South America are demonstrating how climate mitigation and adaptation actions related to forests and agriculture are firmly anchored in the Nationally Determined Contributions of over 120 Parties to the Climate Convention.

Patricia Espinosa is UNFCCC Executive Secretary and Salaheddine Mezouar, President of COP22 and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN-INPS | UNFCCC COP22) - Humanity will look back on November 4, 2016, as the day that countries of the world shut the door on inevitable climate disaster and set off with determination towards a sustainable future.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement – the result of the most complex, comprehensive and critical international climate negotiation ever attempted – came into force (on November 4).